Our crowd's a little more conservative in Texas so it's hard to find edgy/alt guys, in regular metal shows. I've noticed the punk crowd is a little more expressive here, but definitely focus on smaller venues and local shows.

The problem with that is that without a maximum potential cant just Anyone be the next Einstein? Follow up would be, if there truly wasn't potential constraints, why are these 'genius' people outliers?

I think speed of understanding is something you can improve by working on it. This is what I concluded from my life experiences (despite I'm only 18). However, I'm not a brain expert nor a psychologist, so I might be wrong.

And Honestly you may be right. I'm also not an expert, but what then of kid geniuses? They haven't had the time to truly work on it, but they definitely 'get it' and sometimes a lot more than people that have been 'working it' for much longer.

Don't get me wrong hard work and effort can get you far, but there are limiting factors that determine exactly how much.

Just by curiosity, what distinction do you make between intelligence and intellect?

I see it more like intelligence is how much you know as oppose to intellect being your ability to apply intelligence. The difference in learning Theoretical Physics and being able to apply it.

You can though. The answer is often very complex and very few teachers actually know (or remember) why.

I used to have the same problem with it, until I met a teacher that could answer the why of everything. Whenever she did though, 90% of the class was lost, to which made me understand why it's more pragmatic to just avoid that side of math.